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I love catching bands with whom we have an ongoing relationship, getting to hear new material or the refashioning of older material—and there’s a rare intimacy that develops when you’ve recorded and mixed and mastered someone’s music. We’ve been following Rhyton for a while now, since way back in 2012 when they played our Northside Showcase at 285 Kent. Each time it’s something different, some shows tending towards the band’s improvisational side, others outing songs or trying out brand new material. This set from a couple weeks back at Union Pool—the first we’ve seen since this year’s Redshift was released—splits the difference with a few songs off that album combined with the jams. “Turn to Stone” is a Joe Walsh/Eagles cover made Rhyton’s own and there’s a plenty good chance the band will have you unwittingly enjoying an Eagles tune, so watch out.

I recorded this set from our usual location in the venue, with a board feed from Union Pool FOH, Doug. Despite some chatter in the quieter passages, the sound is excellent. Enjoy!

The other times we’veseenRhyton, the sets have tended toward new or unreleased material. That made this outing at Union Pool all the more of a treat, as we were introduced to three selections of brand-new material from their third record, Kykeon. The show kicked off with the Mediterranean flavor of “Topkapi” which featured frontman/guitarist Dave Shuford rocking the bouzouki, a Greek folk instrument that Shuford demonstrated his mastery of on his albumArghiledes. Kykeon means “to mix” in Greek, we’re told on Thrill Jockey‘s page, and that’s exactly what these songs felt like, as we got to hear “Siren in Byblos” and the “disco mix” of “Pannychis”, which built on some of “Topkapi’s” themes but expanded to surf and even vaguely pop (by Rhyton’s standards) motifs. Judging one piece of the Rhyton work against another is difficult, as the crew’s material is so varied, but this set represented some of the band’s most accessible work to date, and arguably some of their very best.

You can catch Rhyton tomorrow night at Trans-Pecos at 8 p.m. Be there.

I recorded this set in our usual manner for the venue, with Schoeps MK4V microphones and a soundboard feed by the house engineer, Robb. The sound quality is excellent. Enjoy!

Rhyton is the latest project helmed by Dave Shuford – best known for his work with No Neck Blues Band and D. Charles Speer and the Helix – and compatriots Jimy SeiTang (Psychic Ills) and Spencer Herbst (Messages, Matta Llama). I have been an admirer of Shuford’s for awhile now; he is a musician’s musician, who pursues his vision relentlessly without regard to genre, style, texture or time. While Shuford has played everything from country-blues to Greek folk music during his career, Rhyton expresses he, SeiTang and Herbst’s experimental impulses. The band’s first self-titled LP is a masterwork of improvisation – the result of a three-day recording session, the record captures the raw, live feel of these players at their best.

I invited Rhyton to be the second band at the NYCTaper 2012 Northside Festival Showcase in hopes of seeing the exact kind of set they delivered – a two-segment, free flowing live jam so new that these songs did not have formal titles. This is music that rewards set and setting, and the post-industrial 285 Kent space, with its psychedelic wall art, was the perfect venue for the band’s mind-bending style of playing. While we (and the band) would have loved for it to be longer, Rhyton’s set hinted at the new thrills to come on their forthcoming Three Lobed Recordings LP The Emerald Tablet, due out later this year.

I recorded this set with Audio Technica 3031 microphones split wide at the stage lip, combined with a soundboard feed, to create an upfront, “in your face” style of recording that provides maximum separation between instruments.

The entire set is streaming in full below. Enjoy!

Special thanks to Dave Shuford and Rhyton for playing the show.

Stream “Transitory Screed”

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Stream “Paroon”

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Rhyton
2012-06-14
285 Kent
Brooklyn, NY USA

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